Death at the Wedding Feast (3 page)

‘Mr Rawlings! What a pleasure to see you. Come in, come in.'

He went to a door behind the counter, opened it and called up, ‘Octavia, Octavia. Can you come down? Mr Rawlings has arrived to see us.'

‘I'll be there in a moment,' answered a distant voice.

‘I think you'll find Octavia somewhat changed,' said Nicholas, his eyes very twinkly.

John guessed at once that she was pregnant, then immediately thought of Elizabeth. He must journey to her next week at the latest. He loved her too much to let her face what was bound to be a difficult labour on her own.

The door flew open and there stood the girl with eyes the colour of blackberries, still as ravishingly pretty as when the Apothecary had first seen her. And, as he had thought, she was in the early stages of expectant motherhood and this only served to make her look more attractive than ever. She pulled a wry face at John and laid her hand on her stomach.

‘As you will see, Sir, I am now two people.'

He went to her and whirled her round. ‘And if I may say so, Madam, it becomes you enormously.'

‘Enormous being a most suitable word, Mr Rawlings.' Octavia burst out laughing. ‘Oh, how very good it is to see you again. And how is your dear father?'

‘Spry and as fit as his age will allow.'

‘That is all I wanted to hear.'

‘And he sends his fondest love to you both. You wait till I tell him your news. He will be as thrilled as I am by it.'

‘The talk is all of babies round here,' Octavia said delightedly. ‘Nick and I think it must be the freshness of the air.'

John smiled, thinking to himself that the air in Devonshire was not doing too badly either. But Octavia was still prattling.

‘You must stay to dinner. Say you will. And Irish Tom can dine in the kitchen. It will be just like old times.'

The Apothecary looked pleased. ‘I should be delighted. As long as I am not interrupting anything.'

‘Then it is agreed.'

And Octavia hurried back through the door and towards the kitchens to speak to the cook.

It was indeed like old times. John was placed opposite his former apprentice while Octavia sat at the head of the table, her honoured guest on her right. In this position the Apothecary was able to study Nick, going back in his mind to when he had first seen him in Bow Street, taken in by the kind-heartedness of Mr Fielding, as the Magistrate had been in those days. The boy had been nothing much more than a starveling; tall, eyes the colour of a Thames barge sail, limping, yet with an indefinable air about him. They had called him the Muscovite because of his proven Russian heritage. And John, knowing that he was being manipulated but rather enjoying the feeling, had agreed to take on this not very desirable boy as his apprentice.

Just before they had sat down to eat he had given Nick and Octavia a bottle of his carbonated water to try and they had both uttered cries of delight on tasting it.

‘This is just the sort of thing that would sell well at Ranelagh Gardens,' she had exclaimed.

‘Which brings me to an interesting point which I shall tell you while we dine,' John had answered. And now he said, ‘Our old friend Sir John Fielding thinks I should sell my bottled water to the public. Thinks I should take out an advertisement in the newspapers to that effect.'

‘And so you should, Sir,' Nicholas answered.

‘But there lies the difficulty, Nick. Without giving up my apothecary's shop, without changing my life completely, I could not manage it. If this business is to be run then it must be run well. Indeed I was half hoping that I could persuade you to come back to Nassau Street and do it for me. But now, seeing how happy and settled you are here, I realize that would not do at all.'

‘I would gladly take on sales direct to Ranelagh Gardens,' Nick answered earnestly. ‘But return to London I could not do. Octavia and I are happy in the country and want our child born in this pleasant place. You do understand?'

John nodded. ‘Of course I do. It would be a lot to ask of anyone.'

Octavia spoke into the silence. ‘I might know someone.'

Both men turned to look at her.

‘Who?' asked Nick.

Ignoring him, Octavia turned to John. ‘This would be an entirely suitable person to run your business and I think make a success of it. I feel certain of that or I would not be recommending them.'

‘Who the devil is it, Octavia? Why are you being so mysterious?' asked her husband.

The blackberry eyes twinkled. ‘Because, gentlemen, I speak of a woman.'

‘A woman?' said John, flabbergasted.

‘Yes, Sir. I am talking about a certain Mrs Jacquetta Fortune.'

There was a long silence broken by the Apothecary, who said, ‘At least she has a lovely name. Can you tell me more about her?'

‘Gladly. I meet her on my morning walks which I take as part of my daily exercise. She is young, pretty and of good family but, alas, Lieutenant Fortune died at sea and now she is living most frugally. She takes in sewing to make ends meet.'

‘But how does this equip her to run a developing business? A business that might grow very big?'

‘Because, my dear John, before she married Jacquetta used to run her father's business for him.'

‘Then why isn't she . . .'

‘Wealthy? A sad tale but a true one. Her father owned a shipping company – that is how she met Lieutenant Fortune, a sailor on one of his ships. The old man trusted her completely with all aspects of his affairs but when she told him that she wanted to marry – and to whom – he fair had apoplexy. He offered her all kinds of inducements to continue and she agreed – but as a married woman. To get to the point, she gave up all for love. Her father cut her out of his will and she received the bag. And then her husband was killed!'

‘A calamitous story indeed.'

Two blackberry eyes were regarding him seriously and a pretty white hand laid itself on his arm. ‘John, say that you will at least meet her. I beg of you to give her a chance.'

Nick spoke up. ‘I can endorse what Octavia has just told you, Mr Rawlings. Jacquetta is truly an orphan of misfortune. But she has not been broken by it. She is like a sail before the wind in her determination to survive.'

John paused, considering, then said, ‘You must understand that if I agree to meet her there is no guarantee that I will employ her. I might not think she would be capable of running such an enterprise as mine. Or I might just not like her.'

Octavia opened her mouth to speak but Nick rushed in and said, ‘That would be completely understood, Mr Rawlings. We shall arrange the meeting tomorrow morning if that would be suitable for you. Now, would you care to spend the night with us?'

‘Thank you but no. I must return to Sir Gabriel. Though still very fit he is ageing and I know that he worries about me. I'll get Irish Tom to earn his keep, though I thank you for the offer.'

Octavia picked up her glass. ‘Then I'll propose a toast. To dear John – you see I have got out of the habit of calling you Mr Rawlings . . .'

The Apothecary laughed.

‘And the fervent hope that he takes to Jacquetta Fortune.'

‘I'll drink to that,' added Nick. ‘Here's to Mr . . .' He corrected himself. ‘John,' he said.

Three

To say that she was slender would have been understating the case. The fact was that Mrs Jacquetta Fortune was very thin. Tragically so. The Apothecary could see at once the signs of food deprivation and suffering that recent times had brought on her. Yet there was a subdued loveliness about her; buried in her pinched and tragic face was a raw beauty that might one day bloom again. But this was most certainly not the day. She stood before the Apothecary like a ghost, dressed in a threadbare silver gown and a hat that had once been pink but which was now so faded that its colour had become indeterminate. Small wonder, he thought, that the kindly Octavia had taken the woman under her wing.

John sat silently, regarding Jacquetta. She reminded him vividly of a silver birch tree, from the colour of her hair downwards – for what hair he could see peeping beneath the brim of her hat was that glorious shade of blonde that looked touched by frost in certain lights, while her eyes were the soft green of spring. As for her body, encased in its silvery gown, it was sparse and inclined toward tallness. In other words, had Jacquetta been given a decent diet on which to exist and had not fate been against her at every turn, she could have been a charming and rather delightful woman. Every instinct in the Apothecary told him to give her the job on trial and see how it turned out.

He cleared his throat and broke the silence. ‘You do realize, Mrs Fortune, that the work I have described to you will require a great deal of effort. There will be the placing of the advertisements, the bottling of the water – the secret of which I will entrust to my apprentice Gideon Purle – the bookkeeping regarding the orders and who has how many bottles delivered and to where, to say nothing of the banking of the money and the starting of a new account.'

She spoke for the first time. ‘And where will you be while this happens, Mr Rawlings?'

‘I have to go to Devon. I have some urgent business to attend to down there.'

How he had the face to say it and not blush he could hardly understand himself. But this was not the moment to go into the details of his private life, particularly with a total stranger. Thinking, despite himself, about newborn babies, he said, ‘Do you have any children, Mrs Fortune?'

The poor woman looked even sadder. ‘I lost a daughter, alas. Poor little girl, she lived only four hours and then she died. It was so tragic. My sweet little Justina . . .' A tear trickled out of one verdant eye and ran down her cheek. ‘My husband never saw her,' she continued. ‘By the time he returned from his duties she was gone, buried, a tiny grass mound in the churchyard.'

‘I think you have been very brave in the face of your adversities,' said John.

‘Do you?' she answered. And suddenly a smile came that was like sunshine lighting the Arctic wastes.

‘Yes, I do. Now, can I get you another bun?'

They were sitting in the Chelsea Bun House, a small shop that was besieged on Good Fridays by thousands of Londoners demanding their Hot Cross Buns. But today all was quiet and John had thought it a reasonable place in which to conduct an interview. Really, he knew well, he should have done it in Nassau Street, sitting formally behind his desk. But to expect the wretched widow to find enough money to travel to London would have been too much to expect. So in his usual manner he had put her at her ease – as far as that were possible – by buying her coffee and a bun and looking sympathetic.

She answered his question. ‘Yes, I would rather. Are you having one?'

John, who had been turning sideways before a mirror recently and wondering if that were just the tiniest bulge appearing over his stomach, knew that he should answer no, but to keep her company he nodded. ‘Perhaps half, if you could help me out with the rest.'

Mrs Fortune ate slowly but heartily and after another cup of coffee seemed somewhat restored. She sighed and leant against the back of her chair.

‘Mr Rawlings,' she stated, in as firm a voice as she could manage, ‘I promise you that I can run your new business and make it a success. I was in sole charge of my father's company and had staff working under me, you know.'

‘But in that case could you not undertake a business of your own? A milliner or a mantua maker or something of that sort?'

‘Money makes the mare to go, Mr Rawlings. I could not raise the capital to start such an enterprise. My father cut me out because I loved Lawrence Fortune – and I did love him, oh so much – and he, poor soul, left me naught but a little accumulation of back pay. I am afraid that I have fallen on truly hard times.'

The Apothecary drained his cup to give him a moment to think. Should he give this pale shadow of a person a chance? But if he did not could he ever forgive himself? And then into his mind crept an image of Rose nodding her rose-red curls and saying, ‘Oh come on, Papa.'

John put down his cup and turned to his companion. ‘Very well, Mrs Fortune, I will give you a three-month trial period. Starting as soon as you can make arrangements to move into Nassau Street. I take it you have no objection to that? You shall have your own apartments and can eat with the family. The salary will be two guineas a month which will grow if the business is successful. How does that suit?'

Her breathing quickened and her eyes dilated, and one poor thin hand flew to her breast. ‘I . . . I . . . don't know what to say.'

‘Then say nothing,' John answered briskly, and went to the counter to pay the bill. He had long experience of women bordering on hysteria and knew that one of the most effective ways of treating them was to leave them alone. When he looked round he saw that Jacquetta had recovered her equilibrium.

She rose to her feet and dropped him a slightly stiff curtsey. ‘I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Sir. I promise you that I will turn the carbonated water of John Rawlings into something famous.'

John smiled his crooked smile. ‘That would be rather splendid. But I do not ask for that. Merely make a small profit and I will be satisfied. Now, will a month's salary in advance be suitable?'

A little colour came into her cheeks. ‘More than somewhat. I was going to have to borrow the money from Nick Dawkins to move what pieces of furniture I have.'

‘Well, that won't be necessary now, will it. And that concludes our business, I think. I shall send my coachman to you tomorrow with two guineas and you may use his services for the rest of that day. But now I must bid you adieu. I have a great deal to do before I leave for Devon.'